A glossary of acronyms and abbreviations associated with emergency services calls is contained in NENA Master Glossary of 9-1-1 Terminology, NENA 00-001, Version 16, dated Aug. 22, 2011 and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Location information is particularly meaningful to PSAP call takers who are responsible for dispatching emergency assistance such as police, fire and medical personnel. In the case of 9-1-1 calls from a traditional wireline phone, the dispatch address is fixed and stored in an ALI database. In the case of 9-1-1 calls from a wireless phone, there is no fixed address associated with the wireless phone. To enable PSAP call takers to dispatch emergency assistance to the wireless caller, wireless carriers have implemented a variety of location-determining technologies to provide the caller's latitude and longitude (hereafter referred to as “X,Y”).
Having precise caller X,Y location is critical for ensuring that first responders arrive at the correct location. The FCC recognized the importance of accurate X,Y location in 1996 by adopting rules that require wireless carriers to implement E911 location-determining services. The FCC divided its wireless E911 service requirements into two stages. The initial stage—Phase I—required wireless carriers to deliver, by April 1998, E911 service that includes the telephone number of the wireless 9-1-1 caller and the location of the cell site or base station that received the call. Phase II required delivery, under a phased-in schedule, now extending until January 2019, of E911 service that includes X,Y of the 9-1-1 caller within specific accuracy and reliability parameters, depending on the location technology that the carriers have chosen, as follows:                (a) Using network-based technologies: within 100 meters for 67 percent of calls, and 300 meters for 90 percent of calls;        (b) Using handset-based technologies: within 50 meters for 67 percent of calls, and 150 meters for 90 percent of calls.        
Despite the FCC rules requiring improvements in location accuracy, there are multiple reasons why an X,Y provided for a wireless 9-1-1 call to the PSAP does not result in a useful address to which to dispatch emergency assistance (hereafter referred to as a “dispatch address”). For some wireless 9-1-1 calls, only Phase I X,Y is made available to the PSAP in a timely manner and Phase I X,Y is not sufficient to determine a dispatch address. For wireless 9-1-1 calls that are routed to a PSAP with Phase II location, the accuracy of that location is often outside the 100 meter range (or 50 meters for carriers using handset-based technologies) for 67% of calls as required by the FCC. This is particularly true for wireless 9-1-1 calls made indoors where GPS coverage is poor. Moreover, an X,Y needs to be converted at the PSAP into a dispatch address by using mapping or GIS tools to identify the closest street address to the X,Y. Depending on the precision and accuracy of the X,Y, the area described by the X,Y may cover many street addresses. The problem of identifying the correct dispatch address is exacerbated when an emergency occurs inside of a building with many rooms or multiple floors, each with many rooms. Effectively responding to emergencies that occur inside of a building using a street address, even when the street address is correct, is frequently inadequate.
The need for better location accuracy for wireless 9-1-1 calls made from indoor environments has gained recognition by the FCC who on Feb. 20, 2014 issued a Third Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, PS-Docket No. 07-114, and proposed new requirements for wireless carriers. This FCC proposal also adds a requirement for provision of a vertical location (Z-axis or elevation) information that would enable first responders to identify floor level for most calls from multi-story buildings. The proposed requirements call for delivery to PSAPs of in-building location information at the room or office suite level.
One approach for providing PSAPs with in-building location information is to use short range wireless beacons that transmit a unique beacon identifier. In this approach, the location information is not provided directly by the beacon, rather the beacon merely provides a unique beacon identifier. Since location information is not being provided by the beacon, this approach requires establishing, maintaining and storing an association between a beacon identifier and its location. For simplicity, this beacon identifier-location association management and storage facility is called a beacon location database, although file-based and memory-based implementations are contemplated. This approach requires a method for managing the contents of the beacon location database.
Validating the wireless beacon location stored in the beacon location database ensures the wireless beacon location stored in the beacon location database is actually proximate to the true location. Without validating the wireless beacon location stored in the beacon location database, a PSAP call taker could accidentally dispatch emergency assistance personnel to the wrong location. Validating the wireless beacon location stored in the beacon location database could also prevent the fraudulent practice known in the industry as 9-1-1 “SWATing”. This dangerous practice results in a PSAP call taker being tricked into dispatching an armed SWAT response to an innocent address. Validating the wireless beacon location stored in the beacon location database could also be used to detect and report if a wireless beacon has been moved or stolen.
To ensure the integrity and accuracy of the beacon location database, there is a need for a system and a method to validate that the wireless beacon location stored in the beacon location database represents the true location of the wireless beacon.